Gävlebocken
Gävlebocken is a giant version of the Yule Goat, that is a Christmas tradition and displayed every year in central Gävle. What is Gävlebocken? The Gävle Goat, or Gävlebocken, is a traditional Christmas display, that has been raised every year in central Gävle. It is a giant version of the Yule Goat made of straw and the beginning of Advent, and usually takes to days to raise. Since 1986, there has always been two raised. In 1966, Stig Gavlén came up with the idea of making a giant Yule Goat and placing it in the town square. His brother, Jörgen Gavlén, was chief of the fire department and the task of building it was given to him and the fire department. The fire department have been responsible for raising the goat from 1966-1970 and 1986-2002. A business community known as the Southern Merchants financed the building of the goat from 1967-1970. In 1971, they were tired of the goat getting burned down. That is when The Natural Sciences Society of Vasaskolan built their Yule Goat. It received a positive reaction and they continued to build the goat, even then the Southern Merchants started building theirs again in 1986. Timeline of Vandalism and Arson Gävlebocken has had an unfortunate history with arsonists and vandalizes defiling it most years since it has first been raised.Obscura, Atlas. "The Unfortunate Fates of the Gavle Goat: A Timeline." Atlas Obscura. 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2015. ."Gävla Goat." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 21 Nov. 2015. .Gauthier, Matt. "Gävlebocken: The Fate of the Swedish Christmas Goat." Matt D Gauthier. 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2015. ."Gävlebockens Historia." Visit Gävle. Web. 24 Nov. 2015. . * 1966 - First goat was burned on New Year's Eve * 1967 - Survived * 1968 - Survived * 1969 - Goat was burned on New Year's Eve * 1970 - Goat was burned shortly after construction * 1971 - Business community stopped making the goat. The Natural Sciences Society of Vasaskolan took over, their goat was destroyed * 1972 - Goat was sabotaged and collapsed * 1973 - Uncertain * 1974 - Goat was burned down * 1975 - Uncertain * 1976 - Goat was hit with a Volvo and collapsed * 1977 - Uncertain * 1978 - Goat was kicked to pieces * 1979 - Goat set on fire before it was raised. A new one was built and fireproofed, it was sabotaged and broken down * 1980 - Goat was burnt down Christmas Eve * 1981 - Survived * 1982 - Goat was burned down on St. Lucia's Day * 1983 - Goat's legs were destroyed * 1984 - Goat was burned down the 13 December * 1985 - Goat was burned down in January * 1986 - Business community decides to build the goat again, then there were always two goats. The large goat was burned down * 1987 - Goat was fireproofed, was still burned down a week before Christmas * 1988 - Survived * 1989 - Goat was burned before it was raised. Community raised money for another to be raised, it was burnt down in January * 1990 - Survived * 1991 - Goat was burned down Christmas Eve * 1992 - Both goats were burned down after being up for eight days. Vasaskolan rebuilt theirs, it was burned down 20 December. One person set fire to all three goats was arrested * 1993 - Survived * 1994 - Survived * 1995 - Goat was burned down Christmas Eve * 1996 - Survived. Started being monitored by webcams * 1997 - Some damage by fireworks * 1998 - Goat was burned down 11 December even with a snow storm * 1999 - Goat was burned down within hours of being raised. Another was raised in time for St. Lucia's Day * 2000 - Goat was burned down a few days before New Year's Day * 2001 - Burned down by drunk American who thought it was legal. He never paid the fine. * 2002 - Survived * 2003 - Goat burned down 11 December * 2004 - Goat burned down 21 December * 2005 - Goat was burned down 3 December, by a gingerbread man and Santa, with a flaming arrow * 2006 - 15 December, failed attempt to set the goat on fire. 20 December, the Vasaskolan's goat was burned down. 25 December, a drunk man climbed on top the the surviving goat * 2007 - 13 December Vasaskolan's goat was toppled over. 24 December it was burned * 2008 - Goat was burned down 27 December, despite being saved by passer-byres the day before * 2009 - Webcams were hacked and the goat was burned down 23 December * 2010 - An attempt to steal a goat by helicopter * 2011 - Fire-fighters sprayed the goat with water to cover it in ice. It was burned down 2 December * 2012 - Goat was burned down 12 December * 2013 - Goat burned down * 2014 - Three attempts of arson. The goat survived and was sent to China for the "Year of the Goat" celebrations References